Tag Archives: indigenous environmental network

by | April 25, 2013 · 9:55 am

Breaking News: Enbridge Line 2 tar sands pipeline leaking near Viking, Minnesota

By Brendan Demelle, April 24, 2013. Source: DeSmog Blog

images_0Enbridge’s Line 2 pipeline has leaked an estimated 600 gallons of crude oil at its pump station near Viking, Minnesota. Line 2 was built in 1956 and has a history of spills. Regulators ordered Enbridge to reduce its Line 2 operating pressure in October 2010 following the company’s Kalamazoo River tar sands spill.

The Enbridge Viking pump station also receives oil from the Alberta Clipper (aka Line 67 pipeline) that carries heavy crude oil and tar sands bitumen from the Alberta tar sands region south from Hardisty to Superior, Wisconsin and refineries in the midwestern United States.  According to a link provided by Enbridge subsequent to this story’s original posting, Line 2 begins in Edmonton and carries petroleum products, including crude oil, from Edmonton to Superior. Both lines pass through the Viking pump station.

The U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center website reports the details of theincident, which happened last night:
“1044848″,”1044848″,”1044848″,”INCIDENT”,”23-APR-2013 17:09″,”THE CALLER REPORTED THAT A LEAK ON A PRESSURE TRANSMITTER RESULTED IN A RELEASE OF CRUDE OIL.”,”FIXED”,”EQUIPMENT FAILURE”,”23-APR-2013 15:45″,”18060 203TH ST NW”,”MN”,”VIKING”,”MARSHALL”,”ENBRIDGE ENERGY”,”SOIL”,”OIL: CRUDE”

DeSmog was alerted by the Indigenous Environmental Network, which is en route to the spill site to gather more information. Stay tuned for updates to this post below.
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by | March 11, 2013 · 3:00 pm

Occupy Enbridge: Taking a stand on Red Lake sovereign land

By Robert Desjarlait, March 10, 2013. Source: Intercontinental Cry

Photo: Jenna Pope

Photo: Jenna Pope

To the southwest of the Red Lake Anishinaabe Nation, lie desolate, wooded lands that were opened for settlement and home-steading under the Agreement of 1889. In 1945, Oscar Chapman, Assistant Secretary of Interior, signed an Order of Restoration that restored unsold ceded lands of the Agreements of 1889 and 1904 to the Red Lake Band. Although most of the southwestern ceded land was sold during 1889 land rush, several areas remained unsold and were returned to Red Lake, including eight acres located outside the town of Leonard, MN.

In 1949, the Lakehead Pipe Line Company built an underground pipeline on the ceded land outside Leonard. Lakehead was the U.S. base of operations for Canada’s Interprovincial Pipe Line Co. (IPL – owned by Exxon predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey). Other Lakehead pipelines followed in 1958, 1962, and 1972. In 1998, IPL changed its name to Enbridge Inc., a name that combined “energy” and “bridge.”

On February 28, 2013, Marty Cobenais, a Red Lake member and a Tar Sands organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network, entered the Red Lake ceded land site. Accompanied by several Red Lake Band members, Native, and non-Native supporters, Cobenais occupied the Enbridge pipelines that were considered to be illegally on Red Lake ceded land.
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Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Ending the Era of Extreme Energy, Idle No More, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabs, Oil, Tar Sands

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by | March 9, 2013 · 9:30 am

Keystone XL: Environmental racism is rearing its ugly head once again

Note: Tom Goldtooth is the Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network.  Global Justice Ecology Project works closely with IEN, and stands in solidarity with the below statement.

-The GJEP Team

By Tom B.K. Goldtooth, March 6, 2013. Source: Indigenous Environmental Network

before-after-en-300x99Last Friday, March 1st, in an unexpected move, President Obama’s U.S. Department of State released its draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline (this is the proposed pipeline section from the Montana/Canada border to southern Nebraska, Steele City). The report defies common sense when the U.S. Department of State says “the proposed Project is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate of development in the oil sands.” The report understates many of the risks the tar sands pipeline poses not only to the ecosystem, but to the human health of communities living at the source of the tar sands crude oil that will flow through the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline.

The Department of State is saying it is only a draft technical report and that they’re “not going to come out and make conclusions at this point until we engage with public and get some feedback.” Federal notification of the draft SEIS will be posted this week establishing only a 45-day public comment period.

The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) stands in support of the statement released last Friday by Chief Allan Adams, of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, Canada, whose people live downstream from the source of the toxic crude oil that will flow through this Keystone XL pipeline. Chief Adams said of the draft SEIS:

I must stress my extreme disappointment with this report. The fact that the Keystone XL pipeline is deemed as non-consequential simply paves the way for its approval and is directly connected to the unabated expansion of Tar Sands in my peoples’ traditional lands….and the Keystone is a vital pipeline for expansion. Expansion of the tar sands means a death sentence for our way for life, destruction of eco-systems vital to the continuation of our inherent treaty rights and massive contributions to catastrophic global climate change, a fate we all share.”

There is substantial documentation of the devastation of the environment, ecosystem, water, air, and more recently the health of the Native people living in the national sacrifice zone of the tar sands. Evidence of rare cancers linked to petroleum contamination is on the increase. The Alberta tar sands are far away, in another country, but the Obama administration could be making a decision that can directly affect the health and future of the Dene, Cree and Metis’ First Nations people. The U.S. Department of State addresses human rights issues worldwide, however, in this report; it completely ignores its responsibility to apply U.S. policy on environmental justice and its commitment to address human rights.
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by | February 1, 2013 · 10:31 am

Video: International treaty to protect the Sacred from Tar Sands signing ceremony

February 1, 2013.  Source: Four Worlds International Institute

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by | January 30, 2013 · 4:30 pm

Video: Idle No More – Clayton Thomas-Muller & Heather Milton Lightening at #J28

Note: Clayton Thomas-Muller is tar sands campaign co-director with Indigenous Environmental Network and sits on the board of Global Justice Ecology Project

-The GJEP Team

January 28, 2013.

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by | December 7, 2012 · 3:00 pm

Statement on Doha Outcomes by Tom Goldtooth of Indigenous Environmental Network

Note: Indigenous Environmental Network is a close partner of Global Justice Ecology Project and one of the leading Indigenous groups organizing against both REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and the Tar Sands gigaproject in Alberta, Canada.

December 07, 2012

Doha, Qatar - Hurricane Sandy; Typhoon Bopha; the continued melting of the ice in the Arctic directly impacting the livelihood of its Arctic Indigenous peoples and; to drought conditions throughout the world. Mother Earth is speaking. Nature is speaking, but the governmental parties here at COP 18 are not listening.

Indigenous Peoples here in Doha are speaking for the rights of Mother Earth and the collective rights of indigenous peoples who continue to be vulnerable to the accelerating downward spiral of climate change. The indigenous voice has remained firm calling upon the governmental parties to reach agreement on commitments for a stringent global emission reduction regime that would stabilize greenhouse-gas emissions beyond 2013. A weak agreement here in Doha is a death warrant for Indigenous peoples throughout the world.

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Filed under Climate Change, Climate Justice, Doha/COP-18, Forests, Forests and Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabs, REDD, Rights, Resilience, and Restoration, UNFCCC

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by | November 7, 2012 · 5:51 am

Statement from Tom B.K. Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network on the Re-election of United States President Barack Obama

Released 1:00 a.m., November 07, 2012

Bemidji, MN - The Indigenous Environmental Network extends its hand shake to President re-elect Barack Obama. IEN and indigenous communities on the frontlines of environmental and economic injustice will continue to work with President Obama and his administration for the next four years.

Tom Goldtooth. Photo: Langelle/GJEP

We will be vigilant towards building coalitions and alliances to give Obama a mandate from the grassroots people for systems change, not climate change. There has been too much silence from Obama during his re-election campaign on the critical issues of global warming and climate change.

In the words of Tonya Gonnella-Frichner, Onondaga, founder and director of the American Indian Law Alliance in New York City, “Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island have had to live with indigenous silence for over 500 years. The human family can no longer live a game of chance in climate silence or climate ignorance not after the destruction left behind by Hurricane Sandy.”

It is time to create political will from the people of America, from all walks of life, to fight for a just transition away from a fossil fuel economy to an economy that respects Life and Mother Earth. This transition will be based upon implementation of: an indigenous agricultural economy comprised of traditional and healthy food systems; sustainable housing and buildings; sustainable jobs; access to clean water and sanitation; a goal for zero waste management; reform of toxic and chemical regulatory laws; and clean energy, energy efficiency; and natural resource management systems based upon indigenous science and traditional knowledge. 

IEN will build upon the strength of our Native youth, Native Nations, our women and grassroots defenders of indigenous rights and Mother Earth, to mobilize indigenous action to push the Obama administration to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This declaration sets the minimum standards for real protection for the well-being, dignity and rights of American Indians, Alaska Natives, First Nations of Canada and all Indigenous peoples of the world. The full adoption by the United States of this declarationwould ensure our full and effective participation including the principles of free, prior and informed consent in all governmental decisions that affect our communities, Native Nations and environment.

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by | October 26, 2012 · 7:00 pm

New Video: Exposing REDD–The False Climate Solution

Do you know about REDD? The Mending News checks in with IEN (Indigenous Environmental Network) Executive Director, Tom Goldtooth, to get the download on the real story of REDD, the deceptive climate ‘solution’ proposed by the UN. It sounds good on paper “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries” but the reality is that REDD enforces the global colonization of mother earth and a stolen future.

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Filed under Carbon Trading, Climate Change, Commodification of Life, False Solutions to Climate Change, Forests, Forests and Climate Change, Green Economy, Greenwashing, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabs, Latin America-Caribbean, REDD, The Greed Economy and the Future of Forests

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by | October 25, 2012 · 9:00 am

Indigenous leaders rejecting California REDD hold governor responsible for their safety

By Adam Russel, October 24, 2012.  Source:  Friends of the Earth

Photo: Jeff Conant

As California lawmakers prepare to launch the state’s cap and trade program as part of its Global Warming Solutions Act, or AB32, indigenous leaders traveled to Sacramento to urge officials not to include an international forest-based carbon offset mechanism, known as REDD, in the law.

REDD, which stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, is a controversial market-based policy mechanism that proposes to protect tropical forests in order to capture and store carbon dioxide pollution. But REDD-type projects have led to serious human rights violations, and many indigenous leaders have denounced REDD projects as a false solution to climate change, the delegation charged.

Members of the Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities on Climate Change against REDD and for Life traveled from Mexico, Brazil and Ecuador to Sacramento last week to testify before the California Air Resources Board and meet with officials from Governor Jerry Brown’s office and the state Environmental Protection Agency. Alliance members have experienced persecution and threats for speaking out against these programs, the group’s spokespeople said.

According to Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, “REDD is a perverse forest offset scam that allows polluters like Chevron to keep destroying the environment. The United Nations recognizes that REDD may result in ‘the lock-up of forests,’ the majority of which are on Indigenous Peoples’ land. REDD is potentially genocidal.”
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by | October 19, 2012 · 10:30 am

Poster: REDD + Indigenous Peoples = Genocide

Note: The photos in the upper right and lower left of this poster were taken in the indigenous village Amador Hernandez on the border of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve by Global Justice Ecology Project Board Chair Orin Langelle during an investigative trip to Chiapas, Mexico with GJEP’s then-Communications Director Jeff Conant.  The trip was organized in March 2011 to identify and expose the impacts on the indigenous communities in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas, Mexico that would be caused by the California-Chiapas-Acre (Brazil) REDD agreement, which was announced at the Cancun climate talks in December 2010.  The series of events this week in California against REDD (also see previous blog post)  feature Orin’s photography as well as GJEP’s film “A Darker Shade of Green: REDD Alert and the Future of Forests.”  For more, go to no-redd.com

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Change, Commodification of Life, Commons, Events, False Solutions to Climate Change, Forests, Forests and Climate Change, Green Economy, Greenwashing, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabs, Photo Essays by Orin Langelle, Politics, REDD, The Greed Economy and the Future of Forests

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